The Final Days of Florence Harrison
by JhonCollins
Summary: Original Short story, something I did a while ago. One-shot


_It had been nearly thirty years and the crashing wave of infected - human and beast alike - had only relented but a decade ago. Pockets of humanity managed to survive, outlasting the hordes, and stepping out over their desiccated bodies. Civilization was being rebuilt quickly but it would take a long time, possibly centuries before humanity reached their previous grandeur. Even now, amongst the rubble the survivors searched for anything that would help them survive for more time. It was in this rubble that the survivors came across a lab hidden within the basement in one of what used to be a house. Several dead zombies lay on the ground quite a few with large holes in their brains. The only thing that could be salvages was a journal, belonging to one Florence Harrison._

**Tuesday, 14 March 2017**

We were captured… both Erick Shaw and I were taken by a dumped in a small room, several other were also there, all of them clothed in slightly ragged but all had the slight spark of an intellectual in their eyes, the almost hungry gleam that anyone can see if they look for it.

We all wore similar clothing a shirt and a pair of trousers, sometimes I saw a tie, but what really bound us together were the white coats that went down to mid thigh. Much like us they must have been ambushed on their way home from work, all of us around the same time too - Friday I would think. Makes quite a bit of sense too. Would take much longer for anyone to notice that we are missing.

However I should hide this away for now, my captors are returning.

**Sunday, 26 March 2017**

Our captors have released us from the cell though only after strapping a device to our necks, they claim that it is an explosive that they can trigger at anytime, I doubt it but for something like this I wouldn't test my luck. However, I have talked to my fellow prisoners, and recognized a few of them. Though what these men want with this many researcher of this field worries me. DNA structuring is a very new science.

They are returning again, I must hide this.

**Friday, 7 April 2017**

They are having us create a new plague, beyond what we have seen in the past, a great sweeping horror, terrifying on a new scale, however, they keep us working with rifles pointed at our heads. I fear that soon a zombie apocalypse will no longer remain in the realm of fiction.

**Monday, 17 April 2017**

One of the others was killed today his head blown off using the explosive collar, he tried to sabotage the development of the virus. A good man died today.

I have to leave, at the very least should I be killed, the virus is based on rabies, with very few modifications. I hope that this will allow you to find a cure if I cannot.

**Monday, 23 July 2018**

One of the researchers managed to complete the virus; very few of us are left. Security is going to be lax there is a good chance that I will be able to escape tonight. There is little time for me to talk, soon my plan will play out and I hope that I will succeed. The others believe that I will fail but I trust that if I make it out that they will not hinder me.

**Monday, 30 July 2018**

I managed to escape… I hope the others survived. I am working on a cure but I am afraid it is too late; it has been a week since he left… Any day now I expect the news feeds to announce a terrorist attack and the signs of the infected in the very area I seclude myself in.

However there is a bright spot, there is a small chance for a cure, The proteins forming the outer layer of the virus specifically Glycoprotein II is very uniquely shaped, I hope that I might be able to produce an enzyme to break it down killing the virus.

**Saturday, 15 September 2018**

I found a group of survivors, and managed to get them inside, The sequencing for the bacteria to produce the cure is almost done it will only be weeks until I have a sustainable enough population to begin production of the cure, but in the mean time Mr. Fleming will be telling us how he and his daughter managed to survive this plague.

"We only survived the first outbreak because me and my daughter were on a short camping trip, just learning some basic survival skills on our way back, Joanne called she was hysterical, 'Ben, stay away from town. Some terrorist released a bioweapon in JFK and it's gone worldwide. I might be infected stay on the trip." It was the last I ever heard of her.

We high tailed it out of Georgetown, the only thing keeping me from going back was my training during my time as a SEAL, Joanne wanted us to leave and I would. However, the truck wasn't in the best of conditions. During the camping trip, bugs had infested the engine compartment and it wasn't long before the engine ground to a halt.

However the noise attracted them and it wasn't long before they found us… Infected was the only word to describe them, their skin was a sickly yellow and their eyes bloodshot. They began shambling towards us, constantly closing in on us. I tried to incapacitate them but they kept getting up. Nothing would stop them. When one tried to bite me, Roxy here managed to get it off of me, a clean shot through the head with a slug from the 12-gauge that we had in the back.

The blast was loud enough that even some of those in the woods were drawn out into the open. I managed to get Roxy out of there but we were only able to grab the 9mm and the shotgun from the truck. We kept moving, and for the next three nights we slept in trees hiding from the infected people, occasionally even the infected bear. There were a few close calls but the closest we got to being infected was when we met up with these two."

However before he was able to continue his daughter, Roxanne, yawned and he forced her to go to bed, ending the day's story session.

**Sunday, 16 September 2018**

Though Ben never did pick up the story the next day I did find out the rest of what had happened from Florence and Gilbert.

"The pair of them came into our camp chased by what seemed like two dozen infected." explained the woman, "Roxy tripped and we decided to kill as many of the infected as we can. Apparently saving his daughter endeared us to him, anyways, after that we spent several weeks wandering the country and eventually found you."

Gilbert pouted, "Where's the action! Come; let me tell you what happened. As they came in, Ben was firing at as many of the infected as he could. Actually managed to take a few out, however things got bad when little Roxanne tripped. Having just returned from our hunt we were able to help out the old man and together we killed all of the infected.

It was a good while before they actually trusted us, and we only really bonded over the attack, it took five waves of infected before we actually managed to become friends. All the while we tried to get to a small enough town to hole up until the infected die out. It's extremely lucky as it is that we managed to find you."

We were all in the lab, what used to be a large jar of agar had been rapidly infested with the RCP-1 fungus. We would soon be able to not only prevent further infection, with this; we could possibly cure the infected.

_However, Florence's dream was never to be realized, the journal remained incomplete and there was a great deal of infected corpses near its location. Though she was unable to complete her goal, the knowledge she left behind provided a far more in depth understanding of the virus and the remains of the fungus she was using to produce the cure still existed, and as such there was a chance to recreate the cure_


End file.
